Accessories I Got for my Sony a7 IV a7SIII a1 _ My Camera Workflow Productivity 2022.

What's going on, HYBRID shooters? It's Jason Vong, currently traveling the world for a year and stopping by here in New York City. And these are the accessories that I use with my Sony A7IV, A7S III and the A1. First off, I want to say, please do not get every single item in this video. This is just a recommendations video. What may work for me may not necessarily work for you. So when buying any of these items here, please take the extra time to really evaluate if it's money well spent or not. Use this video to get an idea how you can use some of these items to improve on your existing workflow. And hey, even if none of these items are your cup of tea, I still hope you learn something from this video. So the first thing I usually get with my brand new camera is a screen protector. Sure, with the A7IV, you can now close your screen into the camera to protect it. But that's a couple of extra seconds to flip it back out just to start shooting again. And that can be a difference between getting the moment or missing the shot. So I just like having the screen protected for extra assurance and it doesn't affect the viewing quality of the screen. Touch navigation and touch tracking still works. Now, there are a lot of brands out there, but I tend to stick with the official Sony one just because they've been working well for me. But a quick note, though, the A7IV does have a different screen size. So you got to get the PCK LG2 if you're picking one up for the A7IV. Otherwise, you can pick up the LG one for the other Sony full frame cameras. All right. So the next item on the list is the Peak Design Strap. And believe me, I still can't believe I have to throw this in my recommendations video. You think people would know about the Peak Design Straps by now, but I still see TikToks and Instagram reels on photography that gets way more views and likes than my stuff. But I still see these people in the behind the scenes using the default Sony strap. And I'm like, why doesn't that get in the way of shooting? Like, you literally have to move the strap away just to start shooting. Like, don't you want to be free when you're creating? It's like. Look, I'm not against straps. I love using straps myself. I love using them to carry and transport my camera when I don't want to be using a bag. But when I need to get down to business to defeat the Huns. I ain't fiddling with my strap. I would demonstrate how cumbersome it is to use the strap that comes with your camera, but I'm way too lazy to put it on just to take it off. So if you're using the default strap right now, you would know what I mean. But check this out right here. I can easily detach the camera from the strap right here and just be free to shoot. And when I need to, you know, take a break, you know, carry the camera around. Bam. Put this back in and I'm ready to roll. Highly, highly recommend this. And why, yes, this is the official Zeiss Peak Design Strap. I got this from a small collab that I did with Zeiss Camera Japan, and they were actually running a limited time promo for people who were buying Zeiss lenses in Japan. They would get a free strap as a gift. So, yeah, this is incredibly rare and it's mine. It's all mine. OK, back off. This is mine. Don't take my strap. So for batteries, I am using the Sony first party batteries. I have quite a few here. I think I have a total of six of these batteries. But I will say this. If you are tight on budget, it is OK to get third party batteries. If you are doing non-businessy photography, go ahead. Use third party batteries. But if you are doing pro work or you're doing long form videos, you want to pick up these first party Sony batteries. Now, I have nothing against third party batteries. When I started off my career, I lived and thrived on third party batteries. But over the years of shooting a lot, yeah, I do notice that third party batteries tend to go a lot quicker. They have less longevity and oftentimes give false readings on the camera. So sure, you do save money at the beginning when you buy the third party stuff. But when you have to replace them three months down the line, six months down the line, it ends up costing you more. So really, you're saving money by buying the original Sony batteries up front. And I've had some of these batteries for over three years now. And they've all held up. This one right here, check it out. This I have the little bodice lens label stuck on this when I first bought my 40 millimeter bodice in Hong Kong. Immediately after unboxing, I stuck that little label on this camera. It's been on since. So it's been three years and this battery still holds up. Sometimes stores like to do bundles when you buy your camera, they include a free battery or when you buy like multiple batteries, you get one for free or at least the other one for 50% off. So you just got to know the tricks and plays to getting these batteries here and charger. I am using the stock Sony charger. I know it's still kind of sucks. The A74 does not come with a charger. They didn't do that for the A73. And I would think with the extra cost of the price tag of the A74 that they would at least include a Sony charger, but they didn't. So, yeah, pick up a charger. So I have two of these from when I bought the A1 and the A7S3. So I already have one. But before I got those cameras, I was actually using the NUMOA dual charger. And I gave that away when I sold my A73. But I know a couple of my friends are still using it. So if you're looking for a more affordable option, the NUMOA dual charger would be a good one to take a look at. All right. So this next thing right here is a feature product. Thank you Sennheiser for sponsoring a portion of this video. So Sennheiser, they make some quality microphones. I actually have their MKH416 back when I had a studio set. It's a thousand dollar microphone, but damn, it sounds so good. And I miss it. But because of all the traveling that we're doing right now, I couldn't bring it with me. So I had to stick to the basics. All right. So currently we have like helicopters on either side of the cameras and a light breeze going on. But this is the Sennheiser MKE400 and is a $200 shotgun microphone. And what makes this different from the other competition is that it has a low profile build. The capsule on top here actually has built in wind protection and built in shock mount to reduce the handling and rumbling noise when you're carrying the camera around. Other shotgun mics, you would need a furry dead cat and external shock mount. But this one, again, has it all built in. But in case you do need that extra wind protection, they do include this nice furry alive cat. And I say alive because this thing is like really soft and gentle. It's really nice here. Feel it. But I appreciate the smaller form factor of the mic. It's easier to travel with. Fits on the top portion of my backpack without me having to disassemble it. And the audio, as expected, you're hearing it now. Sounds great, especially since we can control the sensitivity on the mic itself. And I can lower the preamp on the camera for a more clean audio. All right. We're really putting this microphone to the test right now because there's a helicopter right behind the camera. Wow. We'll see how that sounds like in post with my voice and the helicopter going by. Hey, that's pretty good. My voice is still coming in very clear, despite the helicopter and the low wind. So if you want to learn more about the MKE 400, check out my link in description box below. Thanks for listening, guys. Now back to the video. So this is a four piece special right here. This is the small rig top handle that goes onto the cold shoe. The small rig monitor tilts so I can actually tilt the monitor like this. The phone clamp and the monitor that I'm using here is actually the Xperia Pro. So I've been shooting some tutorial content with the A7IV and I've been using the Xperia Pro to capture the menu settings. Prior to this, I was using the Atomos Ninja V to record all of the menu settings, but it was kind of too bulky. I mean, it's still the smallest external monitor recorder screen that exists in the market. And if you actually use its full capabilities, which is the ProRes RAW recording and all that jazz, it is phenomenal. It is great. Highly recommend that if you're into the more serious video work. But for what I do to capture the menu settings, that's just an overkill. The Xperia Pro-I is much more compact, thin, and I can do the exact same thing with the screen recorder. Now, not to confuse you, this is not the same as the new Pro-I that just came out last year. The original Pro has the micro HDMI connection, and this is what I need to capture a clean video HDMI feed. Plus, it can double as a monitor too with the small rig top handle. And it's pretty sweet. Kind of makes this set up feel more like an FX3, which I really enjoy the top handle aspect of that camera. Now, I can't vouch how secure and safe this is when I mount it onto the coat shoe. So if anything happens, I will report back to you. Now, you might be asking, why not just get a full cage? Again, for what I do, it's unnecessary. It's just going to be an unnecessary boat to add to the camera when all I really value is the top handle aspect of the, I guess, cage form factor. So this, this right here, it's fine, it's perfect. I like it. I'm not going to mount too much stuff on it, so probably won't stress the coat shoe here too much. Next up for the memory cards that I use, I use the Sony Tough Cards. These are expensive, I know, but damn, do they work great. And you need fast cards like these if you want to record in certain formats like 10-bit 422, H.265, even S&Q 10-bit 420. You need cards like these. Otherwise, you're going to be very limited in the format and codec that you'll be shooting in. Now, I tested out this SanDisk alternative right here, and it does work. And if you pick up something else, you just got to make sure that the write speed is at least 260 plus in order to shoot these higher codec and formats. Otherwise, you get this warning right here. So this thing here is a Sony CFexpress Type-A SD card reader combo. And I do plan on getting some CFexpress Type-A cards for my cameras in the future. It's just that they are way, way too expensive right now. But the read and write speed on those are just insanely fast. So it's really good to use those when you need to be bursting down on something like the A1 with high megapixels and 30 frames per second. But as of now, this is just nice to have. And the reason why I got this is because I was able to snag a good deal on this. I got this from Amazon Warehouse, which some of you might know as a subsection of Amazon, where they sell used gear at a discounted price. So I was able to snag this for about 40% off its original price. So, yeah, sort of future proofing. But honestly, I don't really need something like this right now because I do have the brand new MacBook Pro, the M1 Max. And this thing does have an SD card reader, but it's kind of nice to just kind of have two transfers going on at the same time. And with the tough card transfer speed being so fast, I don't have to sit here too long to wait until it finishes offloading the footage onto the computer itself. By the way, if you want to learn more about how to buy used camera gear, save money and avoid getting scammed, go ahead and watch my video right up here or link in the description box below. But anyway, where do all these footage and photos go? Into these hard drives right here. So I got this SanDisk two terabyte SSD here over the holidays. You know, the ones that all went on sale everywhere. And I had to use this initially on a previous 16 inch MacBook Pro that I got temporarily for Paris and London. Now, that model only has a one terabyte, which drove me up the wall because I filled it up extremely quickly. The maxed out MacBook Pro that I ordered didn't actually get shipped until I arrived in Paris one week later. So, yeah, I pretty much had to edit all my videos and photos off this SSD, which has been super clutch. Yeah, this thing here has eight terabyte of solid state drive. I spent dough on this machine, and that's because I edit directly off the MacBook whenever I'm traveling. You know, when you're traveling, you're not in the most optimal desk situation. Sometimes you're editing on a plane. Sometimes you're editing on a train. Sometimes you're editing on your lap at a mall. And I've had instances where I would accidentally bump the hard drive cable and my whole entire project would disconnect. And it's so scary because you run the risk of corrupting your footage or your project. And when that happens, you're pretty S.L.L. So that's why I enjoy editing directly off the internal SSD on the MacBook. So what this SanDisk two terabyte SSD would do now is act as a backup of my current project. So in case my machine does go kaput, I still have all of my raw video and photo files in here, and I can take it to Vivian's laptop and work on my project there. So once I'm done with these projects, I would then offload it to this Lacie four terabyte drive right here until I make a pit stop at home to offload everything onto a bigger hard drive. Now, unfortunately, this Lacie drive right here is a USB C version, not Thunderbolt, so the transfer rate is a little bit slower. I am contemplating about getting a bigger one with Thunderbolt support. But yeah, it's going to be very costly, especially shooting 51 megapixel and now 33 megapixel. I have a feeling they're going to tear me up a new hole in my wallet. So we'll see. By the way, in case you're wondering, this is the Asus XG17 inch portable gaming monitor. Look how thin this thing is. I got this back in July. I actually own two of these, but only brought one with me to travel with because I just love this monitor a lot. This was also one of those things I snagged off of Amazon Warehouse for an amazing price, and the conditions were flawless. It's a 1080p 240 hertz display. And no, I didn't get it for gaming. I got it as a secondary monitor for my MacBook. Since we're traveling the world for a year, I don't have my usual 27 inch iMac along with my 34 inch Asus external monitor. And over the years, I've just become so reliant on having a secondary monitor just to have extra screen real estate for when I edit. So I kind of need to have this. The colors on this is actually pretty decent, but for any color grading or any photo editing, I would still use the MacBook display. And this thing here has a three hour battery life built in, and it connects and charges to my MacBook via USB-C, which is nice. So, yes, it does display through USB-C. But here's how it plays with my cameras. It can also connect via micro HDMI, which is great because I have a bunch of micro HDMI to full size HDMI cables left over from my A7 III and A7R III days. So it's a reverse now where I can use the full size HDMI on my camera and use the micro HDMI onto the monitor right here. And I've been using this as a reference monitor for whenever I shoot these YouTube videos. And it's just one of the most best investment that I've made for my laptop and for my camera right here. So I honestly love it. So it does come with this flat here as a stand, but I kind of don't like it since it puts the monitor at a slight angle. So it's a good thing here on the back of the monitor. It has a quarter inch screw. And that's because they sell a bundle with the tripod stand. But I've tried out the stand. It kind of sucks. It's kind of flimsy and the screw doesn't hold on too well. So instead, I actually figured out a better solution. I have this PGY Tech MantisPod that I received when I did a video with them. Their quick release plate is awesome because they have this thing called the snap lock system that prevents the camera or in my case, the monitor here from turning if the screw gets loose over time. And I've tried other quick release plates before to get this thing mounted, but they always get loose and my monitor ends up tilting. But with the MantisPod and the snap lock plate, I've never had this issue. So I love this setup right here. OK, I spent way too much time talking about this monitor, but you can tell how insanely proud I am about this monitor setup here. Anyways, back to the camera. Next up, my gimbal of choice, the Zhiyun Crane M3. Like I said in my review on this gimbal, it's my favorite travel sized gimbal that can still hold a full frame setup. And in that video, I tested both the A1 and the A7S3 with the 14G Master, which I was just really pushing it, but I was still able to get some great results. But you don't want to be using front heavy lenses because otherwise this whole thing will just collapse. For New York City, I chose to leave behind my 14G Master so I can give my bodice 18 here some love. And it works beautifully on the Crane M3. But check out my review on this gimbal when you get the chance. I have a link right up here or description box below. Next up are these Lume Cube portable lights. These are very clutch bicolor lights, super portable. In my 85 versus 135 video, we shot the outro to that video with one of these lights, and it was the perfect fill light for nighttime stuff. And we were able to match the warm lighting that was at Disneyland. And there was also this time that I went to do astrophotography with my friend Stan, and I shot the entire interview portion with this light right here. So I can highly, highly recommend these. They all come with these rubber diffusers that kind of wrap around the light so you won't have to lose them. And they charge via USB-C. So thank goodness. And these smaller ones right here are box shapes. They can actually stand on their own. So if you need to like add a little bit of fill light to your product shots on the table, you can. And these are just some essentials. I got some ZEISS cleaning wipes, some dust blower and a cleaning cloth. Doesn't hurt to wipe down the lenses before a long exposure shoot. Otherwise, we would see dust in our F9 photos. And the cool thing about the A1, the A7IV is that they have the anti-dust feature. So the shutter closes down to protect us from entering the sensor when you swap lenses out. But the lenses themselves don't actually have an anti-dust shutter function. So they need to be wiped down. Now, in case you do take advantage of the anti-dust feature, make sure you never, ever touch the shutter when it's down. Otherwise, it's going to be a costly repair. Ooh, look at this sunset glow. Kind of cool with all the transition that's happening in the background. It's kind of bright. And now the sun is setting, so you see dusk. It's pretty cool. So I've been asked what camera bags and backpacks I've been using since I haven't made an update on that. And that's because there really hasn't been an update. I still been rocking the same bags. This is the Peak Design Everyday Zip, I believe. And this one is the Sling 10L. So I've been using these two sets here for the last two years. And I like the Zip for two reasons. Number one, it has a bigger pouch on the top here, so I can just drop my camera in with a shotgun mic without having to disassemble it. And I can pull it back out quick for a quick shot. But number two, really for security reasons, these zippers right here actually have a loop, these straps right here that I can tie around and kind of lock it down as an extra layer of security. That way, if someone were to try to open my backpack, they would have to undo this before they can actually reach inside and grab something. And we've been warned a lot about pickpocketing out in Paris. So this kind of gives me a peace of mind when I'm out and about shooting. I don't have to worry about someone coming up to me and just try to take my stuff from the top pouch of this backpack right here. And of course, I love my sling here for all of my casual day. One camera and lens setup and maybe a couple of extra primes here off to the side. 99% of the time, if you see me walking in public, this will be the bag that I'm using for all of my casual days. All right. I think that's it. Hopefully you guys learned a few things from my Sony workflow and able to take at least one or two things and apply it to your own workflow. And hopefully it improves on it. If you guys enjoy what I do and want to support the channel, the best thing that you can always do for me is like, comment, subscribe and keep watching all the videos that come out from this channel. And if you want to go the extra mile, you can always listen to what my sponsor Squarespace has to say. Vivian and I always strive to bring you guys the best and most unique image and video samples whenever we talk about cameras and lenses. And oftentimes we have high production costs to make this all happen. It's sponsors like Squarespace that help funds our production budget so we can keep bringing you guys more high quality samples. So the best way to support us and to help us continue to do what we do is to simply check out how Squarespace can help you. Link down below. Squarespace is an all in one platform to create beautiful websites. No coding knowledge whatsoever. Perfect for people like me because I just want to make YouTube videos for you guys and not have to worry about coding my entire website. Simply just select one of their templates to get started. Every aspect is easily customizable with their drag and drop feature. Whether you're in need of a portfolio, an e-commerce store, or even a simple blog, design it with Squarespace. Use my link down below to test it out. And when you're ready to launch your first website or domain, use my code Jason Vong to save 10% off. Guys, thank you so much for watching. I'll see you guys in the next video. Peace.